Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Bob Iger has released a statement following the deadly alligator attack that killed a 2-year-old at Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

"As a parent and a grandparent, my heart goes out to the Graves family during this time of devastating loss," Iger says.

"My thoughts and prayers are with them, and I know everyone at Disney joins me in offering our deepest sympathies."

Lane Graves was killed after an alligator dragged him into the Seven Seas Lagoon at 9 PM on Tuesday night. The family, from Nebraska, was vacationing at the Disney resort.

Orange County sheriff Jerry Demings said the family was on the sand at the lagoon "just simply relaxing out in the area and wading in the water along the lake's edge at the time the alligator attacked the child."

"The father entered the water and tried to grab his son from the alligator but was unsuccessful."

They were hoping beyond hope that the boy was alive but after an extensive search on Wednesday authorities conceded there was no chance he survived. They later found his body on Wednesday and determined the boy died from drowning.